


Dumpster Diving

by nartes



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Original Work
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fic, set in dbh universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24489064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nartes/pseuds/nartes
Summary: Prompt: "Do you want to tell me why you're in a dumpster or should I guess?"A lil fic for an android OC's backstory
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Dumpster Diving

The summer sun was beating down on the abandoned parking lot; the rows of black dumpsters lining the back of the building were starting to boil in the heat. At midday on a particularly slow Friday, the old man did not expect to find a discarded human amongst discarded trash. It was rather surprising that he had come across this discovery, the bright light of the day star causing him to squint and obscure his vision, and the inconspicuous location shouldn’t have even been a place to look. However, something drew him to explore. Call it fate, if you must. 

"Do you want to tell me why you're in a dumpster or should I guess?" 

Garbled sounds resonated against the confines of the container as it tried to open its mouth to respond, blue liquid trickling from its nose onto the tattered red sweater it wore. 

Oh, so - correction - not a human. Rather an imitation of a man, made of metal and blue blood. Of course, this made sense seeing as they were outside a manufacturing plant - a branch of a large firm - with ‘CyberLife’ written in bold, silver letters across the front. They were notorious for the promises of androids becoming a vital part of every home, with five new models recently released for public consumption. This prototype just had the misfortune of becoming a vital part of this dumpster. 

The aged man had seen and worked with the progression of the company; from the sidelines he watched plans being poured over day and night, only for them to get discarded by the higher-ups and ordered to start afresh. The android in the garbage had been one of those projects, and yet somehow it managed to come off the paper and into reality. He was fascinated; ideas starting to creep into his mind. 

With a grunt injected into a sigh, he leaned into the dumpster and wrapped his calloused hands around the android’s upper torso, underneath his arms, and started to pull him up and out. It was a struggle, he wouldn't lie, getting the being taller than him out but somehow he managed to do it. 

As it landed on top of him, the back of his head scraping across the tarmac road, he wondered to himself what he would do with it once he bought it home. The scrape of artificial flesh accompanied his thoughts, thinking about the repairs he would have to carry out and what use he could put his new toy to as he dragged it to his car. 

"One man’s trash is another man’s treasure," he quietly mused to himself while he hoisted the mangled frame into the stuffy vehicle. 

Car rattling along after it huffed to life, the man adjusted his thin, round, gold and brass frames, peering into the rearview mirror as he did so. Damp droplets had gathered on his wrinkled brow due to the heat and exertion, and when he gazed into the backseat, he saw that the android was in no better state than he was. The blond hair was matted and coated in various substances, grease and oil being the main contributors, along with black markings across its face, most likely from when they fell on the road - and that was just the problems visible at first glance.

Only when they reached his isolated house, along with managing to sit the android down on a chair in his workroom, did he see the extent of their problems. Pulling up another chair to sit opposite and besides it, he started examining its features. A lick to the thumb and a rub on the skin got rid of the black mark, but the right eye had a damaged iris. It appeared to be cracked, green colouring staining as it leaked into the white cornea. There was the problem with its nose and its incessant bleeding; a whirr could be heard if you leant in close enough. And most importantly - the lips. They were scuffed, splits all along the what should be soft flesh. 

As he worked on his personal project for hours on end, the swans in the lake outside glided along, oblivious to what was happening. 

In the early hours of the morning, the man finally set down his tools on the workbench. The chair creaked under his weight as he sat back; the silence that occupied the rest of the house patiently waited by the door. Shaky hands bringing a handkerchief to his forehead, he glanced at the computer that lay connected to a port in its neck, various lines of edited code flying across the screen. 

With a hoarse, unused voice, he decided to test the waters. “...Hello?”

“Hello.”

He stumbled back, chair rocking on its hind legs. It... it actually worked! Aside from the stiff movement and timed blinking to avoid entering uncanny valley, it looked perfectly imperfectly human. He couldn’t believe his luck - does this mean that he now has a fully functioning android of his own? For free? 

“Fuck...” He scraped the chair legs across the wooden floor, leaning in close to the artificial man. “Perform diagnostics and feedback?”

The LED that all androids had flickered to life, spinning yellow before settling on blue. “All systems operational. Would you like to register a name?”

The old man was a little taken aback; he hadn’t given this much thought. A name? Something meaningful, something easy to say... 

A Winnie the Pooh book lay open on the table nearby, left behind by the grandson that had visited the week prior. The wind swooped through the open window and with a gentle breeze, started flipping the pages until it opened upon an illustration of Christopher Robin with the yellow bear. 

“Chris. Short for Christopher. I think that name will suit you.”

With a smile, the Android’s LED pulsed blue momentarily. 

“Okay. My name is Chris. How may I be of assistance?”


End file.
